Impressed by the leap forward made by Aston Martin this winter, Esteban Ocon hopes to see his team do the same.
Aston Martin is the big surprise of this 2023 season. Accustomed to the back of the grid last year despite a few brilliant strokes in the race, the Silverstone structure propelled itself to the front of the peloton with three podiums in as many Grands Prix for Fernando Alonso.
During this time, the former team of the double World Champion has somewhat stagnated in the hierarchy. Alpine is usually the best placed team behind the top four teams, but Esteban Ocon is somewhat envious of what Aston Martin has achieved and urges his colleagues to do the same, although the context is different since it was in the off-season with a new car: “Aston Martin has shown that it’s possible to take a big step forward by finding the right things, kudos to them. So it’s doable.”
“If you think regarding it, we finished the season in December, and when we resumed it, it was late February, early March. It’s been three or four months. I don’t know if Aston would have been able to do it. do during the season, but in three or four months, the season will not be over. You have to believe in it, otherwise there is no point in participating.”
With upgrades in the pipeline for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Ocon is excited regarding the development of an A523 which he says has no major flaws.
“I am at the factory at least one or two days a week”he confides. “I’ve been to the aero department, I’ve seen the future designs, I’ve seen the upcoming concepts on the car, what we’re going to bring to it. And there are some really cool ideas. I can’t wait produced and to see them on the car.”
“It’s a lot of details. It’s never one thing in particular, and that’s what’s complicated: a compromise in one place can lead to a loss of performance elsewhere. And because of our position, we don’t we can’t compromise now.”
Alpine currently sits sixth in the constructors championship with eight points on the clock, having seen a good overall result escape him in a collision between his cars during the chaotic third start of the Australian Grand Prix.
Interview by Filip Cleeren
